By My Wish
by AK-103
Summary: He was just a teenager making money from writing smut, something he's only good in doing. But one day his life changed when an orange fox entered his life. He never understood heroes, but he's forced to be like one. Will he be a hero? Or an instrument of evil and corruption?
1. I

Let us say that…

…there once existed a man.

A man so unpredictable that even the Gods were clueless about him. He was labeled an enigma, an oddity, even by his fellow humans. He was a wildcard. There was no telling what he could or could not do, he was also known for his ability to be able to change how people think and feel. He was stubborn. Through determination and sheer willpower, he managed to best those who were considered legends amongst mortals. He was powerful.

Even so, with all of those traits, he could not fill the emptiness he had within him. He was hollow.

That man, through all unfair odds and impossible chances, managed to do things that even Gods would consider impossible. He changed the very meaning of hope and faith. With his friends beside him, he stood triumphant over his enemies. He was hailed even worshipped by the people he protected. People respected him, people feared him and people adored him. Everywhere he goes, he got nothing but praises. People were forever in his debt for all the things that he had done for them.

But, what they do not know is that he was not always so strong, not always so determined and not always unpredictable. There was a time when he was nothing more than a boy, a boy born through sacrifice. He was meant to shoulder a burden so big that not even the people in the whole world could carry it. Yet, through all the discrimination, hardships, pain, suffering and maltreatment, he endured. He became someone. He learned how to live, he learned how to laugh and he learned how to love… yet, he could never be satisfied if it is just him who is experiencing that.

He was selfless, ultimately so, even to a point where one might consider it to be a form of mental illness. Where others lived like kings, should they ever be given the same treatment as he had during his prime, he lived like a servant. Where others spend their money on lavish banquets or vintage wine, he spent in a thrifty manner. Where others choose to take, he chose to give.

This only made people admire and adore him even more. People loved him. And he loved them too. Even after all the mistreatment that they have given him, he was willing to cast that aside.

He was a hero to them.

Even so… even so… no matter a hero or not…

All those praises, those kind words…

They mean nothing if suffering still exists.

So, he made a wish.

To the sixth star that overlooks the Wintery plains of the North, he wished,

' _I wish to protect. I don't have to be a hero. I just want to protect everyone.'_

And that wish of his was granted…

…in the form of curse.

* * *

"…Naruto, you up yet?"

Waking up, a pair of blue eyes snapped open to greet the day. The owner of the same blue eyes took his sweet time to stretch his sleeping limbs and yawn himself to awakening. He blinked more than once, registering the fact that he was now awake and no longer dreaming of swimming in a pool of ramen broth with chicken angels flying around him. He looked to the left and looked to the right. He's in his room. He then settled to look at the person who had just called him by his name.

"Come on, get out of bed. It's time for school."

A girl, no older than fifteen, was standing by his door frame. Her hair was pink in color, making her rather hard to miss. It was short and kept together by a red ribbon tied together on her head. She was wearing her school uniform, the female version of his school's uniform. It consisted of a white buttoned up collared shirt and a green blazer with white linings around the edges, a red and green pleated checkered skirt, a pair of black knee length socks and a pair of black school shoes. She had her bag toted by the hand, holding it with her left hand whilst her right was firmly grasped on his door's knob. She was giving him a rather intimidating glare, almost as if she'll drag him out of his bed if he didn't do anything about his current state of self.

"Sakura…?" our blonde haired protagonist mumbled sleepily, his eyes blinking. He caught the brief flashes of pink and green. Yes, it was Sakura. "We have school today?"

Sakura did her best to keep herself from launching at the boy with a punch that could potentially break his jaw, neck, spine or anywhere else near his medulla oblongata. She sighed scornfully, almost regretting that she knew this person. "Of course we do you dummy it's Monday!" she yelled, but managed to contain it because she didn't want to wake the neighbors up. "Hurry up now and get dressed, we'll be late! Again!"

"Alright… alright…" he mumbled with no real intention of getting out of bed, but a fierce glare from Sakura made him thinks otherwise. "Just wait for me outside, I'll get changed." He shooed the girl, eliciting a humph and the closing of a door. He stood from his bed like a zombie from a grave and moseyed over to his wardrobe to grab his uniform.

The male uniform is not much different from the female's. They have the same buttoned white shirt, green blazer and all. But they have the privilege of wearing the most necessary piece of clothing of all, pants. Yes, pants. A pair of navy slacks with two pockets to store small items into. He put on his socks and proceeded to make his way around the room to grab the red tie he placed on the dresser last night. He lazily fastened the tie around his collar, making sure that it's comfortable. Once done, he opened his door and walked downstairs to rejoin his childhood friend.

"Come on Naruto we're gonna be late!"

Grunting an irate grunt, he made no effort to reply to the girl who's shouting right outside his house. He made sure to grab the house's keys from the kitchen table and left for the door immediately, since there's no time to fix breakfast. He locked the front door once he's finished wearing his shoes.

"Ah, my bag."

"Guh… hurry up!"

After fixing that little mistake, he walked through the front courtyard of his house and through the gate. Locking the huge brass padlock that ensures his property remained untouched, he then pocketed his keys inside his blazer's pocket. He was just about to turn around when he felt a hand grabbing his left hand, pulling him with a strength he was not expecting.

"We've no time to walk, if we run we might just make it!" Sakura stressed urgently whilst dragging him and running. She had a firm grip on his hand, he's afraid she might just break it with how strong it was. Naruto didn't even retort or push her away, it's faster this way. Good thing was, their school is not far. Konoha Academy was just a few blocks away they'll be there in a few minutes.

"Move your legs and run already!"

"Hmm…"

"Don't go back to sleep!"

It's a good thing that Sakura was a very strong woman with physical capabilities that exceeded most men. One would think that she's an easy picking, but those who have tried to make such approach to her learned about it the hard way. She managed to drag her blonde childhood friend all the way to the main road that lead to the school at an amazing speed too. On the distance, she spotted a tall lithe figure with black hair walking casually with hands inside the pockets of the person's pants.

"SASUKEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The black haired boy flinched and he instinctively looked back and that was a mistake. He didn't have time to react and avoid the girl's deathly grip on his collar.

"CHAA! I CAN'T HAVE MY BEST FRIENDS LATE ON THE FIRST DAY OF THEIR NEW SCHOOL YEAR! CHAAAAA!" She's a running speed demon right out of the gates of hell. She trampled over other students who dared to be upon her path as if they were pebbles on the ground. She was a running flash of green and pink, with black and yellow behind her.

"Yo," the blonde waved to his partner in misfortune.

"Hn." The other lazily replied.

The school's gates were in her sight, causing Sakura to double her speed. She spot something green standing tall in attention in the middle of the school's gate, arms crossed. Her eyes blazed like the ninth circle of hell, her nose began acting as a steam exhaust. Her arch enemy… her worst foe… there can only be two of them, but this one… this one's one of the worst. He is…

Gai-sensei.

The PE teacher stood tall and unfaltering, even when faced with a raging one woman stampede heading towards his way. He inhaled the scent of the morning dew, taking in as much as he could. Despite the calamity that was approaching, he had naught show the slightest hint of fear. In fact, one would think that he was actually welcoming it. He, Might Gai-sensei, the strongest and the most physically trained PE teacher in all of Japan, stood like the Tokyo Tower; tall, strong and proud. There was a gleam in his eyes; one that he knew he was making. He allowed himself to show a wide, but modest smirk. That smirk was everything but cocky.

He pointed a bandaged finger at the approaching incarnation of fury. He stood, facing something that none were willing to face.

"Come, let us see if I can stop you this time, Pink Fury."

'Pink Fury' developed a massive vein on her forehead, popping as far as showing it. Her eyes darkened and dark intentions began to seep out from her very pore. She drew her head back, showing everybody witnessing a vision that could only be described as fury in its purest form.

Before we continue, let us start with a short story.

Haruno Sakura was sweet girl, oh yes she was. She was kind, always helping in the local hospital and even retirement home as a volunteer without any form of reimbursement. She was considered to be one of the smartest girls in her school, and she had been keeping this title ever since she was in elementary.

But one day, something happened to Sakura something… bad. She was helping her mother shopping for dinner one evening, it was back when she was still in middle school, anyway so she went shopping and she did so at her own leisure pace. She carefully picked up the necessary things, always paying attention to the price and used every discount tickets she had in her disposal. Everything was going well.

However, how-fucking-ever… **that** happened.

She went to the cashier to pay and the clerk who was working the register was almost done tagging her items. Once she had everything bagged and ready to go, she noticed something. There, it was that. That. That big, red sign that caused her very form to freeze when she laid eyes on it. That… that… that sign that said…

' **50% on everything starting 6:20 - 7:00!'**

She should be happy, but she wasn't. Why?

Because it had just recently been posted.

Long story short, ever since that day, the fearsome grocery store rampage that happened that day was known throughout the town and everyone knew the name Pink Fury…

Now, let's resume.

Gai stared with no fear, but was indeed sweating. _'This speed…! She is truly someone worthy of the name Pink Fury!'_ mentally, he was crying prideful tears. _'Lee, you have truly found the perfect partner for your life…! As your mentor, I can never be more proud of you!'_

Extending his hand forward, Gai opens his mouth. "Now, let us see what you can do Pink Fu-uuurhg!"

 **BAM**

That's the sound of Gai's Medulla Oblongata hitting the concrete ground.

 **CRACK**

And that's the sound of Gai's skull fracturing.

"SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAFFFFFFFFE!" Sakura yells as she, and her two friends, reached the front entrance of the school. She dropped her two friends back to their feet, panting heavily, but she had a large smile on her face, a smile of satisfaction. "Haa… ha… hahaha!" she threw her hands up in the air like a mad scientist with lightning roaring on the background. "I DID IT!"

Naruto and Sasuke stared at their female childhood friend with blank eyes. The blonde scratched the back of his head, speaking, "I have English for first period."

"I have Chemistry." The other boy replied.

"Let's meet up at recess."

"Hn."

That morning, the small town in a prefecture somewhere in Japan called Konoha, started like any other. The have a passed out PE teacher with a shoe print on his face while he's giving a thumbs up to the heavens, a laughing pink haired ex-Karate champion, a blonde who really got nothing to do despite having things that he should be doing and a bored black haired bishounen who's off to do… whatever it is that pretty boys do.

Yup. Just your normal morning in Konoha.

* * *

"Mister Uzumaki… would you mind share what it is that you're doing on your notebook to the rest of the class?"

Umino Iruka prided himself as being a dedicated teacher. Unlike a certain mask wearing senior he knew, he actually tried to approach his students and give them advice for their future. He found that there's nothing more satisfying than seeing the students that you taught and scold becoming fine adults in the future. Thinking about it almost brought a tear to his eyes, almost, if it weren't for this problematic blonde over here.

Every student in the room, excluding the isolatee himself, had their attention focused on the blonde haired enigma who was busy with his pencil and notebook. Said enigma took a moment to pause his activity, taking note of the fact that every one of them had their eyes on him. Blinking several times, his baby blue eyes gave the brown haired teacher a confused look.

"I'm… writing?"

' _Duh?!'_ was what's going through the class's mind.

An additional vein popped into existence on Iruka's forehead, despite his subtle showing of anger, he still managed a smile. "Ohoho? Is that so? Then, care to show us what it is you're writing?" Iruka couldn't claim victory just yet, since this is Naruto he's dealing it. He's dealt with the boy ever since he was an elementary and nothing about him changed. He's still that same problem making, unmotivated boy who… who's surprisingly and outrageously good at everything except math and physics!

"A new chapter for my erotica."

Almost everyone in the room fell from their seat, well almost everyone since Naruto's the only one who didn't. Iruka was also close to collapsing at how nonchalant the boy made his claim sound like. Knowing Naruto, he was nonchalant. He's talking about the same boy who was raised by a man who acknowledged himself to be the world's biggest super pervert over here!

"W-W-Why on the principal's name are you writing erotica in the middle of my class?" Iruka asked, the sheer amount of confusion and disbelief was hard to miss after witnessing an atrocity like this.

Naruto did not reply for a solid minute, then, he shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?"

Everyone, ever those who were already back to their seats, fell again. Iruka was no exception this time.

"Ah, not to worry sensei, it's in English."

Iruka flipped his desk. "THAT DOESN'T MEAN SHIT!" it was at this moment that his anger was starting to show. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH WITH YOUR ANTICS UZUMAKI NARUTO, GO AND STAND IN THE HALLWAY!"

"…may I bring my pencil and book?"

"OUT!"

He was kicked out of the room, his pencil and notebook following him. Naruto gave the door an annoyed glare, before sighing and picking himself up the floor along with his utensils. He never understood why people did not appreciate the kind of literature he's making. Well, it's more like continuing since his godfather who also happened to be his caretaker was the original author of the series he's currently writing. He passed away quite some time ago and before he died, he wanted him to finish his series for him. How dramatic. Out of all the money he had in his bank account, all he got was the deed to his smut?

It proved to be a useful hands-me-down, because the revenue he's getting is a lot, as in, ten digits a lot. If anyone asked, that's how he got the mansion and ducati. He's been using the money to good use and by good use he meant ramen.

What better way there is to splurge money other than splurging it on ramen?

None.

Anyway, the life of an author had been good to him so far. The only slump he had ever gotten was when he didn't know what flavor ramen was he going to have for dinner, and that only lasted for at least six minutes. But it was a very long six minutes. He was familiar with his late godfather's occupation, so picking up where the pervert left wasn't that hard. The pervert had him write a few entries as extras in his previous books and based on what he heard, people liked it.

It was not a secret that he liked writing erotica, smut, whatever and almost everyone in the school knew about it. There have been mixed reactions to that. Some thought that it's inappropriate for a high school student like him to be writing a genre like this, this mostly comes from the females and the faculty members. While a lot thought that he's damn lucky to be able to make so much money at a young age, this comes from everyone, including the females and faculty members.

To be honest, he didn't really care about their opinions. He made a promise to his godfather that he will continue his legacy and he **will** do it. Besides, it's not like they dared to voice their thoughts to him directly in the first place. The only one who attempted to that was the math teacher, even so, she really couldn't say anything about it since it's really none of her business.

So deep in his thoughts, the blonde then resurfaced back to his surroundings with the help of a long sigh. It's been twenty minutes and class is going to end in five more. He could just ditch it now and go to the roof and wait until it's second period or he could just stay here and wait for Iruka-sensei to finish and then dragging him to the faculty office to give him a major scolding.

Yeah, he'll do the first one.

* * *

Now that he's on the roof alone, he could resume his work in peace in silence. He's working on a chapter that he'd been writing ever since two days ago, this chapter is supposed to be the climax of the arc when the protagonist Hiro rescued the princess and his love interest Eri. To do so, he must venture through the Valley of Death and face ominous monstrosities that guard the place where the princess was being held captive. And then the protagonist must defeat the evil mastermind who kidnapped the princess and threatened the Kingdom into chaos and Armageddon.

Reminded him of a certain game…

But in any case, he couldn't help but be amazed at his late godfather's work. It's amazing and the scenes were all nicely written, despite having a few grammatical errors, which he knew about when he was tasked to proofread his work. Ignoring the H-scenes written by the pervert, the development of characters, tragedy and characterization were all well done. Hiro was supposed to be exactly that, a hero. He fought for truth and justice, always thinking of others and seeking peace. He would choose the least violent method when faced with a situation. He would never think of sacrificing somebody in order to gain an advantage.

And the princess, Eri, was your typical damsel in distress. She fell in love at first sight when she first caught sight of Hiro from the balcony of her room, thinking that he was an attractive looking young man. Through actions of fate, the two managed to meet together and they shared a mutual feeling of love that none could rival. The series, Icha Icha as it was known in Japan, had over four books now with the fourth being his own work and he's in the middle of working for the fifth one. The first until the third featured our protagonist and his adventure, the first three books served as a way to get readers more familiar with Hiro's kind and selfless character as well as his aim of becoming a hero that wished to protect everyone.

The first three installments featured Hiro venturing strange places and meeting strange people, making friends with said people and even enemies with some of them. His godfather's creation, Hiro, was always portrayed as a person who could not say no. He meant for Hiro to be that protagonist who would help others without even needing time to think about it. His godfather's character of Hiro was not flawless, per say, as there were times when Hiro became a little bit too weird. For instance, in the second book, when Hiro was supposed to fight a brave warrior from a distant land, he chose to flee instead.

Why? He was a hero, he's meant to be heroic and unyielding, so why did he flee? It did not make sense to him, maybe it did for others, but to him, it didn't. Why run? When he had the power, the courage and the ability… why didn't he fight? Naruto read the book and nothing would end up in Hiro dying if he fought the warrior, his godfather is not the type of person to kill off a main character that easily, unlike the author of that one book with the midget and snow zombies. So why didn't his godfather made Hiro fight?

Another one in the third book. This time, Hiro was given the choice to receive unimaginable power or nothing at all. He chose nothing at all. At first, Naruto thought that his godfather was going with the whole 'power corrupts' thing for the rest of the series, but in a later chapter, one of Hiro's closest friend, the very same friend that he grew up and spend his childhood with died because Hiro wasn't strong enough to protect him. Why? Why didn't Hiro chose to receive power, knowing that he will need it in order to protect the people around him? It could be taken as Hiro letting his closes friend died because he lacked the foresight of his friend's death, but no, he knew, at first, that he was going to need power, yet when the opportunity was present in front of him, Hiro denied it, despite knowing that he will need it.

Why?

Until this day… he could never figure it out. This was also the reason why he wasn't making as much as his godfather when he was still alive. People read the Icha Icha he's writing mostly because of the smut and erotic scenes he'd written, not for the main core that was the story. Truthfully, it made him disappointed. He's disappointed in himself. His godfather's precious work, which was not only famous for the erotic scenes, had been reduced to nothing but pure smut. The pervert must've regretted giving him the task of continuing his legacy.

He stopped moving his hand, not out of free will, but because he's too tired to write. He'd written his notebook full of words that he'd already end up at the very last page. He stretched his hands up, giving tired grunts. Writing put a strain on his eyes, and before he knew it, he'd probably have to wear glasses. He looked around, noticing the lack of things on the school's roof. Really, if it weren't for the money, he would have abandoned this job a long time ago, despite the promise he made to his godfather on his deathbed.

Still… if it weren't for that promise, the promise he made after the promise of continuing the Icha Icha series…

' _Naruto, I want you to learn and appreciate yourself. Promise me that you'll try your best to protect others and yourself.'_

If it weren't for that and the money… then, he would have stopped writing entirely. What's the connection between that last promise and writing?

It's simple, writing was the only way for him to get money and with that money he could use them to protect others as well as himself. After all he's not strong enough to do it with his own two hands.

He instinctively stopped his hands from moving to gather his belongings when he felt a sense of dread radiating from behind him. He felt himself flinching and frozen from the immense feeling of dread flooding and hitting his back. Imagine yourself frozen, incapable of moving a single muscle. The sweat that oozed out from his skin was like ice itself, cold. He felt himself getting dizzy, but he did all he could to not faint. What's happening? Who's doing this? Were thoughts that crossed his mind… never in his life had he felt such malicious intention aimed at him. The wind was dead, completely absent when it was present before. His heart was beating as if he had just run a marathon around town. He dreaded to think what could be behind him, what on earth was capable of producing this kind of intent?

But despite all the bad things that could happen to him, he turned to look.

A fox. An orange fox.

Naruto blinked. He noticed that the dreaded feeling was no longer there as if it was never even there in the first place. He looked around, thinking that it might have just been his hallucination, but no, he knew what he felt. His attention was then returned to the fox. Clearly, this fox wasn't here when he got here. Did it climb all the way up here? What's a fox doing on a school's rooftop anyways? He continued to stare at the vulpine creature for what seemed to be minutes, still baffled at the absurdity of this all. A minute ago he was feeling pure murder being aimed at him and now, the possible culprit was this fox? That didn't make sense.

He saw the fox licking its own fore leg, grooming its luscious orange fur. There's something weird about this fox. It's not your normal Japanese red fox. It's way larger, closer to a dog and its ears are way longer in a sense that it reminded him more of a rabbit. The black rings that encircled its eyes and the way that its eyes glow a vibrant red color… yes, this fox was not normal. The fox remained sitting, staring back at the whiskered teen with the same amount of curiosity in its eyes.

Naruto brushed everything away and proceeded to make his way towards the stairs, walking past the fox. He sensed the fox and it did not follow him or anything like that, it just remained there, sitting. He walked down the stairs shaking his head while holding a hand on his forehead. Perhaps he's not feeling well today and all that happened was just his hallucination? Perhaps…

He made his way back to his classroom where everyone began to take notice of his presence. A boy with brown hair approached him, his school attire worn messily.

"Hey Naruto! Where were you off to man? Iruka-sensei was so pissed you ditched class just like that." the brown haired boy said to him, but despite the topic, he wasn't concerned at all.

"Well he did ask me to get out of class, Kiba, so technically, I did nothing wrong." Kiba laughed at hearing his response. Naruto merely sat on his desk, which was placed by the window. He and Kiba had been friends ever since primary. They both entered the same school and have been doing so until high school. "Where's Sasuke?"

"Oh, he was here a second ago." Kiba informed his blonde friend. "He said that he wants to talk to you later at recess and that you shouldn't forget about it."

"Hm, thanks." Naruto muttered. Then, his curiosity got the better of him. "Say Kiba, you own dogs, right?"

"Dude, my family's been raising dogs for three generations now, saying that I own dogs would be underrated. More like, dogs know I own them." The boy declared smugly. But Naruto ignored his bragging, moving on.

"What about foxes? You know anything about them?"

Kiba adopted a thinking expression, before speaking, "Despite being from the same family as dogs, wolves and such, they actually belong to a different genus. I won't go into details but in short, they're actually more like cats than dogs." Then his face turned curious. "Why are you asking me this? You want to get yourself a pet fox?"

The blonde narrowed his eyes, before shaking his head. "Nah, just curious." He rested his chin on his hand, eyes slowly dozing off into nowhere in particular.

Math will start in twenty minutes and the teacher will kill him if she saw him sleeping when she entered the class room. He'll just have to bear with it.

He'll just have to bear with it.

Bear with it.

Bear… with it.

Bear… with…

…it.

"Uzumaki Naruto-kun! Are you sleeping in my class again?!"

"No I wasn't, Yuuhi-sensei!"

It'll be a loooong day before recess.

* * *

"You're having ramen for lunch again, idiot?"

"Hey, I don't to hear that from the tomato munching preppy."

Sasuke, despite hearing the insult, was not insulted in the slightest bit. He stepped forward and took his place opposite of his blonde haired counterpart, putting down his lunch box which was made to him by his mother. The Prince of Konoha began opening his lunch box, completely ignoring the whispering and hushed mutterings that his classmates were making about him and his friend.

He spot a pair of girls giggling while constantly looking at the both of them. The Uchiha said nothing and he opened his lunch box, taking his chopsticks afterwards. "They're doing it again."

Naruto slurped his ramen into his mouth before replying to Sasuke's statement. "Hm?"

"They're doing it again."

"Ah."

"…you know, I would appreciate it if you act more surprised." The Uchiha gave the blonde a mild glare, while pointing his chopsticks at the blonde. "This is us they're talking about you know, which means it not only affects me, but you too."

"So?" Naruto asked, completely clueless as to why Sasuke was making a big deal out of it. "If they want to dream about it, then let them dream about it. After all, it's not real." He deadpanned with an uncharacteristically heavy voice. Naruto took a peek at his friend's lunch and snorted. "See, tomato munching maniac."

If Sasuke was any lesser, he would have blushed. "Shut up, idiot."

Cue 'kyaaaa~'-ing from every girl present.

"Where's Sakura?" chew, chew. "I thought she'll be joining us?"

"She's busy at the infirmary." Chew, chew, gulp. "Some idiot spilled corrosive acid on his skin at the lab, she's treating him right now."

Gulp. Sigh. "Oh yeah, she's on the health committee isn't she?"

"Hn." Bite, chew, chew.

"You doing anything this weekend?" Gulp.

"No, but Aniki and mother would love to have you come over for dinner." Gulp. Wipe, wipe.

"Again? But I just came over last week." Munch, munch, gulp.

"Yes, but father was away last time. He will be joining us, it has been so long ever since he's seen you." gulp. Wipe, wipe.

"Hm… I guess I'll come for dinner. But dinner only, I don't your mom begging me to stay over for the night. Again." Slurp, gulp. Ah…

"Hn. No promises." Gulp, wipe.

' _I'm… I'M SO JEALOUS KUH…!'_ Every girls present in the mess were looking at the two as if they were the Vatican City itself, they could not bring themselves to enter much less disturb their conversation.

"Yo Naruto, Sasuke!" a familiar voice called out to the two childhood friends from the distance. Four figures came walking in from the direction of the mess hall's entrance, all of them familiar to the two. The one who called out to them was none other than Kiba himself, the canine boy had several other people with him, all of them boys. One is Chouji the fa-big boned school's Sumo ace, next is Shikamaru the school's Shougi ace and the last is Shino the bug nerd. He's cool though.

The four of them came invading on the two's table, taking their respective spot. Kiba and Shika settled to sit beside Naruto, while Chouji and Shino beside Sasuke. Kiba leaned forward, starting conversation. "So what're you two lovebirds talking about?" he asked with a grin. It's no secret that almost every girls in the school shipped these two as if they're Adam and… uh… Steve.

"Screw you doggy." Sasuke said with a glare. If there's one thing he did not appreciate, one of them was Kiba's humor.

"Maa, don't be like that, Prince." Kiba grinned. "If it's to you, we know that honor belongs to our boy here." He wrapped one hand around the blonde's neck, disrupting his eating.

This annoyed the blonde. "I'm trying to eat Kiba, go disturb someone else."

"Sheesh." Kiba let go of his neck. "You two are so in sync." The grin was still present, as if he's enjoying every single moment of this. "For real though, don't tell me that you two're just eating your lunch here like it's your first awkward date or something."

"Goddamit Kiba."

"No, for real," Kiba held his hands up, stopping any advances from the black haired prince. "are you guys seriously wasting your time like… like this?"

Sasuke settled down, letting his anger dissipate. "Hn."

"I'll take that as a yes." Kiba then spoke to the rest. "Wow, guys, whaddaya say we show these two how to have some real fun?"

Chouji let out a nervous laugh. "As long as it's not too wild Kiba, then I'm cool."

Shino pushed his sunglasses with his fingers, before replying in a smooth voice, "I shall not partake in any acts of foolishness, but I should see it first."

"Zzz…" a smack from Choji. "Wha? Who? Oh, yeah, sure, we'll go to Disneyland."

Kiba facepalmed hard, sighing. "Ignoring Shika… how about it, you girls up for something that only us men can do?" he wiggled his eyebrows as a way of convincing the two.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, they both nodded at the same time. "Sure."

Kiba's grinned grew wider. "Perfect." He leaned in, prompting the others – sans Shika – to do the same. "So here's what we'll do…"

* * *

"Be careful and change the bandage regularly, okay?"

Sakura waved the student she had just treated goodbye as she closed the infirmary's door close. She walked over to the swivel chair and dropped her body onto it, all the while letting out a tired sigh. "I swear… accidents happen way too often in this school." She might as well be the school's nurse if she's treating injuries this often that and there's also the fact that the school's nurse was not always present due to… personal issues.

She had been in the health committee ever since her first year here. This is her second year so she's familiar with the apparatus and medicines that the school had stocked up.

"Hm… we're low on iodine and alcohol, the one I used was the last batch… gotta write that down." She drew out a small clipboard with important papers clipped onto it. Unofficially, she's the school's nurse. She's also the class-rep of her class. That gave her both benefit and detriment. She gets to attend small meetings, which was always good since she loved getting involved in school related activities but that will also require her to spend her time doing tasks needed by the school.

But she got to wear this neat lab coat though.

"Ah… I'm thirsty, I need to get myself a drink." Standing up, Sakura walked outside of the infirmary to grab herself a drink. She walked to the nearest vending machine, which was located on the hallway just outside of the infirmary. She chose a drink of her liking, strawberry milk after inserting the 500 yen coin into the slot.

Picking up the refreshing, cold carton drink, she ripped off the straw and popped it into the drink, taking a small sip from it. She leaned her back on the wall just beside the machine, letting the strawberry flavored milk quench her thirst. "Ah… that was refreshing, still nothing like the one mom makes, though." Her mom made the best strawberry milk!

"I wonder what Naruto and Sasuke-kun are doing…"

Honestly speaking, she could not help but worry about the two. The three of them had been friends ever since elementary and she couldn't help but proclaim that she was the middle ground between the two boys. Every time they'd fight, she'd be the one to stop them. When the two got too mischievous – usually it's Naruto's fault – she's the one to apologize for the mess they made. And when girls began asking them out for dates, she'd be the one to crush their dreams. 'Their' as in the girls'.

It's safe to say that she knew the two boys more than anyone else in the whole world, heck, she might even know about them more than they knew about themselves.

Having her back leaned against the while she took her sweet time finishing her milk, Sakura glances at the watch she had strapped on her right wrist. It's almost time until break's end, she should get back to the infirmary. She discarded of the now empty milk carton and threw it into a nearby trashcan that was placed conveniently near the vending machine. She began making her way back to the infirmary, taking no more than a minute to reach there.

As she was just about to slide open the door of the infirmary, a shout raked her attention.

"SAKURA! NARUTO FELL FROM THE ROOF!"

Her heart stopped for a second. She slowly turned to whoever was shouting and saw a sweating and panting Chouji gasping for breath while he supported himself against the wall. The big boned fella was no runner, it's obvious, so him being in the state he's in right now tells Sakura that he was not kidding around.

Immediately, Sakura dashed off towards the entrance of the school.

* * *

From the roof of Konoha Academy, a small, reddish orange vulpine creature watched the body of a blonde student slowly bleeding, staining the ground beneath him. The creature watched as several other students raised a commotion upon the finding of a supposedly dead body. He heard the scream of terror and panic rising and the cries of students.

The creature gave what was known as a smirk.

" **You will be the best… I will make sure of that."**

* * *

 **Bet you didn't see this one coming, huh? It's actually a little bit fun writing something about Naruto that's not restricted to the canon universe, so this will be my official first attempt in writing an AU that takes place in the modern universe. I left the story as a crossover because of the things that I will be putting inside it, I could have left it as a non-crossover story, but that'd beat the purpose I'm aiming for.**

 **I'm going to make a lot of OOC characters here, especially Naruto's own. Things will be different about our hero and maybe he wouldn't even be called a hero in this story. The thing is, I want to create a Naruto that's a little different from the one from my first story, and I've been watching a lot of anime during summer break for me to keep on being motivated. You might see several reference to other series, but hey, everyone loves an Easter egg or two.**

 **In any case, this is the first entry for this story and the paragraphs above also serve as a warning if you do not like where I'm treading with this. Please review and share your thoughts about this, even if it's still vague as fuck at the moment.**


	2. Wish

" _You're a fool. You cannot save everyone."_

"… _but is it wrong…! Is it wrong to just want to try doing that?!"_

" _What's wrong is your ideal. You will lose something if you seek peace. Everything has a price, even if they are just delusions."_

" _Delusion…? I'll show you that delusions can also be real…!"_

 _Then, everything faded like the sands in the desert._

* * *

"Where… am I?"

He had all rights to ask that question.

He was not anywhere he was familiar with and this coming from a person who spends his day walking around town just so that he could get inspiration for his book, this is actually quite the statement. He knew the little town of Konoha down to the smallest alley and dead ends, he even knew places he was supposed not to. Ignoring that last part, with how unfamiliar this place was to him, it's safe to say that he was not in Konoha. He looked around, greeted by nothing but the dark and murky walls, ceiling and floor of this… sewer like place. The path further ahead was surrounded by darkness and he had nothing on him that could give him light. Despite darkness surrounding him, he made a brave attempt to venture forward, knowing that it's probably better than the way back.

He's more curious than frightened, but he would be lying if he said that he's not unsettled. He had no recollection of what happened that might lead him to his current state. All he remembered was going to the roof with his friends and that was just about it, nothing more. His eyes could not see anything as he walked deeper into an abyss of nothingness. Then he started to feel his shoes moistening.

"Water…?" he wondered.

Maybe he was in the sewers after all? If so, what lead to him being here? With a hundred of questions in his head, he settled down for the main thing and that is the identity of this place. Despite being familiar with Konoha as he had just claim to be, this was unlike anything that Konoha would have. Konoha is just that, a small town that is pretty far from the nearest city. Why on earth would it have a place like this? It's illogical that a town would need a sewage system as wide as this. Wait a minute, something's not right… if this was a sewage system, then why was there no repulsive odor floating in the air? Really, he did not smell anything ever since he woke up, yet he should have smelled something if this place was indeed a sewer like he thought it might be.

He ventured deeper for what seemed to be minutes, yet he's still not getting anywhere. He needed to stay calm; the last thing he wanted was panicking in this dark place. Who knew what's in here with him? Thinking about the possibility that someone or something was in here with him made him feel nervous, great. He walked for another, give or take, ten minutes and still nothing but endless darkness. But he noticed something thought. The water level was rising. And there's something about the water either. It did not soak into his clothing, despite the dampness he felt earlier in his shoes and he felt no resistance at all when walking through it. He could run through the water at the same pace as running on normal ground.

His ears were starting to hurt too, it's probably because he'd ventured deeper than before and the pressure increased. This meant that he's been going downwards all this time when he clearly remembered that he'd been doing nothing but going straight. Still wary of his surroundings, Naruto was actually not at a disadvantage at all. He couldn't see with his eyes, so his other senses were heightened. For that reason, he was able to feel that feeling again. The same ill, malicious intent from the roof. He tried to resist the overwhelming sensation, but he couldn't. He was forced to his knee, as he was unable to maintain a standing position.

" **So I finally found you… Uzumaki Naruto."**

Naruto could not look to see who the owner of the deep and borderline demonic tone just yet, as he was still struggling to deal with the overwhelming negative sensation he's feeling. The owner of the voice let out several chorus of laughter in its deep and twisted tone, it receded back into chuckling eventually.

" **So weak… you can't even stand my presence… how are you going to protect yourself if you can't do even that?"** the voice asked, with mocking amusement. **"Huh?"**

Naruto tried to speak, but words would not come out from his mouth. His throat felt as if it was parched, as if he had gone through several days without water. Regardless, he tried to move, moving his feet and rising back to his feet, his attempt was probably seen as pathetic by the person but he didn't care. He needed to get out of here.

" **Don't even bother thinking of getting out."** the voice warned him, as if it had been reading his thoughts this whole time. **"The only for you to get out of this place is through me. So, you must face first if you wanted to go."**

Naruto clenched his fists hard, harder than what he'd normally do. He used every single ounce of strength he had in him, no matter how small it was. He managed to creakily move his neck, adjusting it so that he could see the perpetrator of his current dilemma and once did manage to, his eyes widen. A reddish orange fox. A familiar creature was sitting before him on its hind legs. The fox had a smirk formed on its face, nine bushy tails swinging slowly and ominously behind it. No mistaking it. This was the same fox as the one he met on the roof, but only smaller and with nine tails on him. The fox's scarlet eyes narrowed, as its slit pupils gleam with a dangerous hint.

" **Finally… I get to get a good look of your face."** It laughed in amusement. **"So weak… pathetic."**

Naruto could not get angry, he's more worried about his current state. The feeling of something negative was still acting as a pressure to keep him on the ground, but it's no longer affecting his conditions. The fox raised its snout in a smug like manner, the little vulpine was mocking him.

" **But that will change soon Uzumaki Naruto. Now…"** the fox's nine tails loomed ominously at him, but they did not touch him, only stopping a good distance away. **"let us see if you're able to taste power at its rawest form…"**

Nine blackish-red orbs appeared on all the tips of the fox's tails. It floated away from the tips and began to collide into each other, forming a larger orb, only darker. He was not sure if it could be described with the word dark, because the color… the color was more than just dark. It's as if he's staring at a bottomless and endless abyss through the orb. His senses were telling him that the orb meant bad news, and it didn't take him more than a second to agree with that. He tried to struggle and break free from his vulnerable state, but his body would not move.

His body flinched when the orb rushed towards him. He closed his eyes, but it was useless, the orb entered through his opened mouth. How?! He didn't even open his mouth! In any case, he had swallowed the orb and was gagging. He was no longer pressured by the negative feeling but he felt pain all over his body. That pain intensified into something much worse. He could feel his body burning from the inside, eventually, he's screaming as if he's swimming in the Devil's swimming pool. He fell to the ground again, this time howling with pain. It's hard to distinguish his screams with that of a human's, because the moment the skin started to rip off from his body, everything became hellish. He felt his limbs twisting in ways he never thought they could ever twist into, and he could feel his eyeballs melting into liquid. The hair on his head hardened, becoming something harder than even metal. He felt his muscles being ripped apart, stretched into a size double of what they were and the pain continued.

He could feel his nails growing longer, thicker and sharper. His teeth were no longer teeth, they were swords. With his lack of skin, the redness was everywhere. There could only be red seen all over him, not even the clothes he was wearing survived. His sudden transformation seemed to have produced heat as the water than surrounded him had transformed into mist, and his blood was seared as they leaked out of his body.

Throughout this whole transformation, the fox was watching with a wide grin that only a fox would make. It watched as the boy before it transformed into something inhuman, something monstrous, something… demonic. It saw the dangerous, crimson tails swishing behind the boy. There were four of them and all of them were swaying dangerously. The fox's grin grew wider as it witnessed the transformation in its completed state. Before it was no longer a boy, but something similar to it. No longer standing on two feet, the boy was now standing on all fours, on his arms and legs, looming over it like a human sized vulpine monstrosity. The boy's eyes were no longer blue, they were empty and circular white, and his mouth was nothing but sword sharp triangular fangs meant for nothing else but murder.

" **Ah… so you're not as weak as I thought you might be…"** the fox broke out into a fit of chuckling. **"Kukuku… most people would have died from the pain, not even halfway through the transformation, but you… you exceeded my expectation."** The four swaying tails have been the fox's focus throughout its speech. **"Not only did you grow one, two, three but four tails? That's impressive… no, it's more than impressive, it's amazing."**

The beast that was once the boy let out a deafening roar that could shatter every glasses in a house, but its roar echoed and caused the dark, murky hall to rumble from the sheer power of the vibration.

" **As I thought, amazing."** The fox's nine tails swayed happily behind it. **"Now…"** the fox's red eyes gleamed,

" **The contract is complete."**

* * *

When he woke up, all of that pain, the unimaginable pain that he felt disappeared as if it was never there in the first place. It's like a phantom pain, he could remember the feeling, but not feeling it at the same time. He clearly remembered screaming like a person who had been through hell and subjected to whatever form of suffering and torture that hell had to offer, but he wasn't sure if all of that was real or not.

" **Oh trust me, it's all real, kid."**

…

"Fuck."

The voice inside his head laughed. Laughed, as in a full set of them, laughing as if its rolling on the ground, clutching its stomach with tears coming out of its eyes. He gave the voice a full five minutes until the laughter subsided, even then, it was still chuckling. **"Hehehe… really? 'Fuck'? That's all you gotta say?"** the voice sighed as a way to get rid of the remnants of laughter, but there's still no hiding the amusement. **"Kid, I don't know whether you're broken or stupid. Maybe it's a mix of both."**

The voice chuckled in pure amusement and maybe light humor. "You've exceeded everything I thought that you're capable of becoming, kid. You deserve at least… twenty questions answered. Come now, I am not a patient being."

"Who are you?" the blonde blurted out, not even noticing his bandaged and hospitalized self. He was clad in nothing more than hospital gown and a pair of underwear.

" **I am the Kyuubi. Yeah, and before you ask, I am the same fox that you met on the school's roof, the one's responsible for your current state and I'm also your savior."** The fox answered in a rushed manner, it seemed that it was not keen on beating the bush. " **Next question?"**

"What did you do to me?" throughout all this time, his voice was completely hollow.

The voice of the fox paused, eventually, it answered, **"I unlocked the true potential inside of you. I unlocked a part of me in you. Trust me, everything cannot be explained in one sitting but you'll figure things out yourself. And as to what I did to you specifically… let's just say that I made you… less pathetic. Next."**

"…was that thing… me?" this time, there was something in voice, it was none other fear.

" **Yes, that was you."** it paused in a tad too dramatic manner. **"Okay, no, that was not wholly you. You have a portion of myself residing inside of you this whole time without you realizing it. What I did was… I tapped that part of me on the shoulder and said 'dude, wake up' and that's pretty much it. The transformation was necessary as it serves as a reminder of what you'll go through from now on."** It paused again, this time, the drama was intended. **"Pain. Lots of, lots of pain."**

Naruto flinched. Yet he did not deny nor did he try to bicker against the fox's words. All of this was just too crazy for him to not believe, leaving him no choice other than to accept them as the truth. After all, what he felt was real pain. He could still feel the sensation of skin being ripped off from his body… the blonde visibly shuddered when remembering the sensation. And he just saw the fox for himself, so yeah, this was reality and he had no choice but to accept it. And they say being delusional was a bad thing…

"Then… last question," he hesitated, and the fox couldn't blame him for that. "What will become of me now?"

For a few moments, the fox did not have an answer for that. Naruto waited calmly until he received his answer, which he did, just not in the manner he expected it would be.

" **Imagine yourself… dying."** The fox spoke, but it was more of a command really. **"dying… in such a pitiful and disgraceful manner that it sickens even the most worthless being ever. Yeah, not a good way to go."** The fox's tone then took a monotonous turn, losing its mischievous edge. **"You will die like that, Uzumaki Naruto and I will do my damn best to prevent you from dying like that."**

Then Naruto felt himself burning, as if he was sitting inside a forge.

" **Even if I have to kill you myself."**

The sensation was lifted just as quickly as it appeared. Things returned to normal and only clinical noises were around him. Naruto noticed that he had a needle stuck to his hand and the IV drops were just about finished. He sighed, as he pretty much knew his current situation. He had no choice but to accept what had been imposed upon him. His life had been changed and the only thing he could do was accept it. It's pathetic, sure, but what could he do?

" **Don't get so down, kid. Not all things are against you."**

"For example?"

" **You're not exactly human, how about that?"**

Naruto's stomach sink to the bottom of his… eh… well, what else? He went silent for several seconds before speaking in a broken voice, "E-Explain."

" **When I unlocked a portion of me that was left inside of you, I not only did just that. I merged you with it, explaining the transformation."** The feeling of sickness rose from Naruto's stomach and into his mouth. **"Congratulations, Uzumaki Naruto, for you are now a demon like me."**

There's a thousand ways on how he could react to that statement. He could erupt in righteous rage and demand a solution to that, he could deny everything and continue to do so until everything has ended and by everything he meant his life, he could sit down and accept his new condition with a heavy heart… and many more. But he's not going to do either of those, no.

He laughed. He laughed. Now that he thought about it, it's rare for him to laugh. The only case that he would laugh was when seeing Sasuke being treated like a kid by his mother, even that's getting old. But he laughed anyways, his laughter echoing the room and back to him. Even the being inside his head was silent. His laughter resumed for a total of ten more minutes until it died down, leaving him in nothing but chuckles.

"So… I'm a demon, then? What will I do? Will I have the sudden urge to crave for blood? Will I need to sate my hunger by eating the hearts of people? Or will I have to violate virgin women in order to keep my life force?" Naruto asked with anything but humor in his tone, yet he's still chuckling.

"Kid… you've been reading too much comic books." The fox sighed in disappointment. "None of that you idiot, in fact, I doubt that you'll have to suffer from any side effects at all."

Naruto frowned. Well this news was good. Too good.

" **Mind you, this is not normally the case. There are people who have tried to become a part of the occult themselves but it back fired. They ended up becoming monsters that could no longer grasp their sanity or beings that are too repulsive to even be mentioned. I'm not omniscient kid so don't expect a lot of convenient answers from me but I can say that your transformation into a demon was completely successful, so successful that there's nothing but benefits."**

"Really?" Naruto was still skeptical about this. "For example?"

" **You can use chakra, that's for one."**

"…really?" there was no amusement in his tone. "Chakra? Hinduism? Not magic or anything like that?"

" **No, no…"** the fox prevented any wild thoughts from happening within Naruto's head. **"Chakra… magic… chi… you see, these are all names given to the same thing by people. You can say that… things get a little bit** _ **lost in translation**_ **and we have no one other than you humans for that."** The fox snickered at his own remark.

Naruto sighed again that day. "And how exactly will I be able to use this chakra of mine?"

From within the inner depths of his mind, the fox smirked. **"You can use it to protect yourself, for an instance."**

' _ **Hook, line, sinker.'**_

Naruto felt himself stiffen when he heard the fox answer his question. He could use it to protect himself? So, it's some sort of power, right? Of course it was, otherwise, it would not be useful to be used as a medium to protect himself, no? He recalled the 'super heroes' he watched from anime and cartoons, so just like that? Strangely, it's not as ridiculous as he thought it might be. It's certainly strange, heck at this point he was willing to accept everything that was strange, but when he thought about it… he's just presented with a form of power capable of protecting himself, and possibly others too.

His eyes narrowed. "How do I know you're not lying?"

The fox chuckles echoed his mind. **"It might mean much to you but I swear on my oath as a demon that I am not lying to you."** The fox expected a scoff or some sort of dismissal to his promise but was mildly surprised when there was the lack of it coming from the boy. Really… this boy could be robbed in broad daylight and still think that the robber's doing it by accident. Who raised him to be like this?

"…fine, I'll believe you." he narrowed his eyes, despite not being able to direct the glare to the fox. "For now."

" **Good, I'm glad that we are one in this. You know what, I'll throw in a promise for ya'."** The fox said. **"As a demon, I swear on all of my tails, that I will make you stronger, stronger than you'll ever be alone."** it chuckled. **"For now, just act as if everything's normal and don't tell anyone about me. Your friends are coming."**

Just at the right timing, the door to his room was swung open, revealing a crowd of overly concerned people… well, most of them were overly concerned. The first one to rush the scene was a long black haired woman and without any regards to his injured state or whatever, she hugged the boy with a bone crushing hug. Unknown to Naruto, it was his status as a demon that prevented him from being crushed by the woman's affectionately deadly grip. The blonde let out a meek grunt, seeing as it's the only thing he could do.

"Naruto-kun, Naruto-kun, Naruto-kun we were so worried!" the woman cried out in extreme concern, as if he was her own son. She backed off from the boy, but not fully releasing him either to get a good look at him. "Look at you, you're like a bandaged and better looking Arnold Vosloo!" she touched his bandaged face. "How do you feel? Does your face hurts?"

"Mi-Mikoto-san…" Naruto tried to pry himself off from the woman, but despite his new demon status, it seemed that women are still strong in their own unique and scary ways. "I'm fine, I don't think I look that bad underneath all these bandages." Now he's just insulted. "Can you please get off of me?"

"Oh, ah, yes." Mikoto let go of her hug, retreating back to the group she came in here with.

Through gaps allowed by the bandages that covered his face, Naruto managed to see the audience in front of him. It's enough to say that his room was now crowded, and that's not including the people there were still outside. A person came rushing to his side, tears in his wake. "Narutoooo! I'm sorry man, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" It's Kiba and he's crying for real.

"Kiba, Kiba, Kiba!" he raised his voice just enough to get the dog loving boy from soaking his gown. "Don't cry on me, in fact, don't cry at all. Tell me what happened?"

Kiba sniffed several times, clearing his nose with the edge of his sleeve. "W-Well…"

Cue flashback.

* * *

" _Okay, so here's the deal: Ino's class having track and field outside for P.E today and I got several buckets filled with water balloons on the roof at a very tactical position." Kiba saw Shikamaru raising his hand. "Yes, Shika, any questions?"_

" _Yeah, just one." Shika's face got even lazier. "Are you dumb?"_

" _Oi! I'm not dumb!" Kiba argued. "This plan is perfect! We get to have fun, see girls all drenched and wet and we get to take revenge on that blonde bimbo bitch Ino!"_

" _No, this is just your personal vendetta." Sasuke grunted. "I for once have nothing against Ino."_

 _Everyone gave Sasuke a very flat stare._

 _Sasuke looked away. "Okay, maybe she's annoying from time to time but it's not worth the trouble." Sasuke gave his blonde friend a look. "Are you in on this?"_

 _The blonde shrugged. "If I can just see what's happening while Kiba gets himself into trouble then… I don't see why not."_

 _Sasuke turned to Kiba. "I'm in. But only because Naruto is to."_

" _Good, good." Kiba grinned happily. "What about you two, you guys in?" he was referring to Chouji and Shino._

 _Chouji gave a sheepish look as well as an awkward smile. "Hahaha… sure, as long as I only watch."_

 _Shino pushed his glasses, causing it to glint. "The same."_

" _Then that means only I'm the one who'll be doing the throwing! We all know Shika's too lazy to do it!"_

" _True." Everyone except Kiba chorused as one._

 _Letting out a frustrated sigh, Kiba shook his head in disappointment. To think he's friends with these guys… they may be cool sometimes, but there are just times when these guys were assholes. "Anyway, let's just get to the roof. We'll be skipping the rest of the break for this so make sure you get some chips ready Chouji!"_

 _The big boned fella of the group gave Kiba a thumb up, telling the feral boy that he got it covered._

" _Good, let's go."_

 _The six boys made their way to the roof with Kiba leading them and they're at an area of the roof that's closest to the field._

" _Well, you weren't lying when you said that you placed the balloons on a tactical position…" Shikamaru muttered sleepily as he squinted his eyes to look at the people on the field. "There's Ino over there, she's running a lap around the field." He pointed to a particular blonde haired female making her runs around the field._

" _Perfect." Kiba was already carrying balloons in his arms. "Shika, time it for me! And the rest of you, don't just stand there grab some balloons!" he snapped at the rest of his friends who weren't doing anything._

 _Chouji was munching a bag of chips, Sasuke was standing, Naruto was already sitting on the ground and Shino had his attention on a beetle perched on the railing. Growling, the feral boy decided that nothing's going to happen if he's relying on these guys, so he'll have to do it himself. Kiba was actually a member of the baseball team, and he was a good pitcher. He's not the school's ace, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to throw. He took a stance, but manipulating it a little due to his position on the roof. There's no wind so he shouldn't be worried about missing, all that he needed was the timing._

" _Now." Shikamaru muttered unenthusiastically._

 _Kiba's eyes snapped wider, he swung his hand forward with balloon in hand but the balloon hit the railing. Kiba dodged the balloon before it could hit him and the balloon hit Sasuke, who was helping Naruto stand, right on the face, causing him to react on instinct, thus using the hand that he's using to hold Naruto's hand to deflect the balloon, causing the blonde to be launched out of the roof. Time had seemingly slowed down for the six boys. Kiba was already screaming, Chouji dropped his chips, Shikamaru was no longer sleepy, Shino was not staring at the beetle and Sasuke was reaching for his friend with a desperate look on his face._

 _Sasuke was the school's judo captain, as well as a four time national winner._

" _Oh fuck."_

* * *

"…if it weren't for the fact that you're alive, those would've been your last words…" Kiba said with his head hung in shame.

Throughout the whole explanation, Naruto was slack jawed. He couldn't believe his ears. He couldn't. Someone could tell him that pigs fly and he'll believe them more than he'd believe this story. "I… I… I see…" he leaned on his bed, deeper into the cushion. He massaged a growing migraine. "So you're telling me that I nearly died from something as stupidly absurd as… as… _that_?"

"Well it's not stupid…" Kiba received glares from the rest of the visitors present, causing him to rethink his words. "Okay it was pretty stupid and it was my fault that you almost died so please I'm begging you…" he grabbed Naruto by the chest, hugging him while looking as sorry as he could. "don't sue me my mom would kill me!"

Naruto sighed torturously. He just fell from the roof and now he had to deal with this… "Kiba, first of, don't hug me." the brown haired boy let go. "Second… I'm not going to sue you, I doubt that the court would believe a story as absurd as that." he said flatly. "And third… I'm fine in the end, so it's no biggy." He stretched his arms and neck, showing everyone that he was still pretty much alive. "See?"

"NARUTOOOOO!" A duo of white flashed into the room faster than anything that Naruto had ever seen. He saw the duo of father and daughter gasping in front of his bed, holding a lidded bowl. The old man was the father and the younger woman was his daughter. These two people are Naruto's second favorite people on the planet, the Ichiraku family.

"Naruto I heard that ya' fell off a roof of sum'thin!" The father yelled worriedly with a thick Kansai-ben. His eyes were narrowed, and he's still wearing his chef's uniform complete with the headdress and the apron. "Me 'n Ayame 'ere so worried we 'came 'ere as fast as we cou'd!"

"Teuchi-jiisan I'm-"

"Naruto-kun!" Ayame came crashing upon him like a wrecking ball, unknowingly, she had just broken one of his ribs, but that was fixed due to his demonic power. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Welp…" he muttered painfully. "I am now."

"Oh no that's not good!" she quickly grabbed the bowl from her father's hands and opened the lid, showing Naruto his favorite dish. "You have to eat your ramen now, quick! Here let me feed you!" she called out for a pair of chopsticks from out of nowhere and proceeded to dip into the dish. "Here, ah…"

"No, Nee-chan, I'm fine… the ramen is very much appreciated, but I can eat it later." He tried to speak but Ayame wouldn't listen.

"No! Listen here young man, you need to eat your ramen, otherwise you won't heal."

"Wow, am I in some sort of game now where I heal by eating food?"

Before Ayame could respond, another set of people crashed in front of Naruto, replacing the family of two. These people were also familiar faces, one of them was crying and the other one was reading his porno. As in Naruto's porno, the one that he wrote for a living.

"NARUTOOOO!" Iruka came bawling like someone who'd just almost lost everything. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have been too hard on you this morning! It was because of me that you jumped from the roof, right?!"

"No, you obviously didn't hear the story-"

"I'll promise to be a better teacher Naruto! I'll even make less homework for you!"

Naruto opened his mouth but he realized that this was actually good news, so he kept quiet just for this one.

The other person closed his book, pocketing it inside the back pocket of his pants. The person with the silver hair chuckled underneath his surgical mask. "Maa, maa, let the boy rest Iruka-kun." Naruto could see the smile that the man was making despite wearing a mask. "But please do heal faster, sensei," he was referring to the blonde here. "the next book cannot be delayed."

"You jerk."

An echoing stampede of footsteps came from the hallway outside, but something told Naruto that this stampede was made by only a single person. And he was right. A long brown haired person dressed in his school's male uniform barged into the room with a murderous expression on his face. Instantly, Naruto felt himself dying a second time. Neji was not someone he got along well with.

"UZUMAKI!"

"Yes, I'm Uzumaki."

The long haired third year of Konoha Academy violently grabbed the collar of Naruto's hospital gown, all the while giving the blonde a very fierce glare that could froze even the warmest of hearts. Everyone who knew Neji knew that when Neji's angry, things were about to get serious. Why? Since it's rare for the boy to get angry in the first place.

"You imbecile!" he spat out right in front of Naruto's face. "Don't die in front of Hinata-sama! Your unsightly death caused her to faint and be hospitalized in the very same hospital you're in! If you want to die then do it in a proper place!" Hinata was in the same class Ino.

"And that is my fault, how?"

The door of the room was once again swung open, this time by a group of three people. The first one to enter the room was a man dressed in a fancy suit. It's easy to tell from the first glance that he was an important individual with no time to spare for the common Joe. The man had a strict look on his face, and it had been like that ever since he was a teenager and it only grew worse ever since he got married and had kids. The other person was someone with an identical feature as the first man, though his attire was more casual despite it also being formal and he had a long hair tied into ponytail. The last person was Sasuke.

"Naruto, are you alright?" the man with the strict face asked the blonde. This was Uchiha Fugaku, Sasuke's dad. He's a famous person in Konoha and had influences in almost everywhere from politics to the common folks. Naruto rarely talked to the person, so he was a little nervous.

"I am alright, Fugaku-san." Naruto gave the older man a nod. He then nodded to acknowledge the presence of the person on his right. "Itachi-san."

The older one of the two Uchiha brothers nodded in response. "Naruto-kun, it's good to see you that you're still alive." The man spoke softly, almost too soft for a man. "I apologized for what my idiot brother did to you."

Sasuke grunted, but his attention was focused at Neji and he glared at the Hyuuga clan member. "Hyuuga, get your hands off him."

Neji narrowed his eyes too, but complied before returning to join the rest.

"Naruto, seeing as how this was all an accident and my son was somewhat responsible for this incident…" Fugaku trailed off, giving his youngest a look. "I will be the one to pay for all the bills until you are fully healed." He said in a clinical and business-like manner. "I also expect you to be doing your best to recover-"

"That won't be necessary, Uchiha-san."

An elderly looking man entered the room. The man was balding, and he had a pair of prescription glasses on. The coat he's wearing finished the look and it's no mistaking that he's the doctor in charge for Naruto. He walked to Naruto's bed, while people gave space for him. The doctor raised the clipboard he had with him and judging by the look he had on his face, everything was bound to be okay for Naruto.

"Uzumaki-kun?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Are you human?"

It's a good thing that he was bandaged from face down, otherwise the doctor might have sensed him flinching. "…am I in a psychological checkup?"

The doctor shook his head, sighing. "No, forgive me if I was being too spontaneous there. It's just that… your x-ray results, they're scary." He said while fixing his glasses. "You fell from the roof of your school, a fall that would have given you multiple broken bones and internal bleeding caused by the fracture of said bones and yet… they're not showing anything." He gestured to the x-ray results so that Naruto and the Uchihas could see. "You're fine. You're as you were before the fall, maybe even better depending on the other checkups that I took."

The doctor switched his attention to Uchiha Fugaku. "Uchiha-san, he's good to go right now."

"Right now?" Fugaku repeated.

"Yes, right now." The doctor looked at the blonde again. "There's no need keeping him here. He's not sick or injured anymore."

So it was decided. Naruto told Fugaku that he'd rather go home now rather than piling up the hospital bills. The Uchihas insisted for him to stay over at their residence but Naruto politely declined, he told them that he had things to do to do, things involving work. Fugaku understood him, being someone who prioritized his work; he knew that feeling too well. They opted for him to let them drive him home, but he declined again, saying that he would rather walk to make sure that his body was still functioning.

Before checking out of the hospital, Naruto tried to visit Hinata in the room a few doors away from him but Neji was there like a faithful guard dog preventing any attempt of him visiting Hinata. Everyone went home and now, he's walking towards his home dressed in a t-shirt that Kiba lent him as well a pair of pants that they got for him. He carried the plastic bag that had his bloodied and dirtied school uniform in it, man, the launderer would be scared when he turned it in tomorrow…

* * *

When he reached his house, the first thing that Naruto did was open a box he never thought he would open again. Nothing ominous, it's just that he never knew that he'd open a part of his childhood memories. Kept within the deepest part of his basement, he managed to find the item as if he knew where it was this whole time. He sneezed as a shower of dust irritated his nose. He took a look at the box he was holding, smooth and cold to the touch.

He dusted the dusts off from it, smiling slightly when he saw the crudely drawn orange spiral on the wooden surface. The crayon he used to draw the spiral was almost faded, barely seen, but he knew that it was there. He walked up from the basement and into his room, where he proceeded to open and browse through the contents of the box. He had set the small wooden box down on the foot of his bed. Mentally preparing himself, Naruto began to get to work.

The first item he saw, something that easily brought a smile to his face, was his old orange t-shirt. He eyed the piece of small clothing to an eye's level, not believing that he used to be this small. He took a whiff of the clothing's scent for nostalgia's sake and it still smelled like the old softener that his mother used to use on the laundry. He folded the shirt neatly and placed it aside.

He browsed through the wooden box once again, this time his hands touched something hard and pointy, but nothing dangerous as the material was made out of plastic. He took out the item and examined it closely, a familiar look settled in his eyes. It's meant to be a kunai, like the ones that ninjas use in the olden ages. The one he had with him was a toy made out of plastic made to replicate the weapon. He placed it aside along with the shirt.

The third item was something unusual, but he recognized it. It's a piece of cloth long enough to be wrapped around the forehead or wrapped around neck as some sort of thin scarf or just a long kerchief. It had no particular design on it or whatsoever, but it was dark blue in color, similar to the night sky. He remembered tying this around his forehead and thinking he was some sort of ninja, it was embarrassing. He placed the cloth next to the first two items before proceeding again with his browsing.

Finally… the final item inside the box was a book. It was nothing obscene, no. It was a book that held a special place in his heart. A book that was also written by his late godfather but was never published because it did not attract the attention of any publisher. He felt mad when he heard that. How could a masterpiece such as this did not receive the recognition it deserved? The book's hard cover was green in color, it showed sign of aging with brown marks on the edges. He just barely managed to read the title of the book. His smile grew when he read it.

 **The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi**

That's the title of the book and it pretty much described the whole story. The story told the readers about a shinobi who was utterly gutsy and brave. The setting of the story was set in a fictional world where there were these placed called ninja villages. A fictional Great War called the First Great Shinobi War happened and the Northern Village called Kotsu tried to conquer another village called Konton. Konton sought the aid of a Southern Village called Shuku to begin a project called the Sōten Project to create a destructive forbidden ninjutsu called Gukoizan.

But when the chance for peace between Kotsu arrived, Gukoizan was no longer needed. Shuku's Second Village Chief, Kaen Mahiru, ordered everyone involved in Gukōizan's creation be killed so that knowledge of its existence wouldn't get out; Naruto and Renge's fathers died during the war, possibly because they were part of the Sōten Project. Kaen also broke the village of Konton in two in order to further keep Gukōizan a secret, with Kon to the east and Ton to the west.

Yes, that's right. This book was also responsible for the name he had now.

Apparently, during the signing of this book, no one came to his godfather. But just as his godfather was about to leave the place, this lanky, feminine faced pretty boy walked up to him awkwardly and asked for his signature. That's how his father met him and later, when his mother was pregnant with him in her womb, his father named the author of the book as his godfather and him after the main character from the story who was called Naruto.

He flipped through the books, not particularly reading it or anything, just flipping through it until he got to the final page. His smile softened.

 **Written by: The Greatest and Gutsiest Author of all times, Jiraiya**

Closing the book, Naruto did not group it with the rest of the stuff he took out from the box, instead he placed it back inside the box.

 _'You old pervert…'_

That man was more than just a godfather to him. That man was more than just his guardian. That man was more than just his inspiration. That man was also his father. He considered him to be his father. He raised him, he took care of him, he paid for his tuition before he was even able to earn money and most importantly; that man showed him what a family was like. He was not the perfect role model, hell, there were times when he was nothing more than a bad influence. But he'll be damned… no one's as awesome as Jiraiya.

He wiped the single tear drop that escaped his eye, wiping it until it no longer existed. He opened his eyes, feeling them burning with determination.

Through some freak accident, he may no longer be human but he could do something now. No more feeling weak, no more feeling pathetic over the things he could not do because now, he felt as if there's nothing that he could not do. The fox's intention may be questionable, but he's not just going to let this whole thing went past him and never return. No. He'll use his current state to the fullest and for the best only.

He found himself drawn again by the three items that he withdrawn from the box. The t-shirt, the toy kunai and the bandana.

' _Naruto, I want you to learn and appreciate yourself. Promise me that you'll try your best to protect others and yourself.'_

"Protect others…"

Protect. It means to keep safe from harm or injury. Synonymous with words like save, defend, preserve and secure. To keep people from getting harmed to keep them safe from injury… that's the true meaning of protecting. To defend a person from an aggressor that's also a form of protection. To use your strength to help others from threatening situations that's also protecting someone.

He decided.

He will be a protector of mankind.

Even if he was no longer human.

* * *

 **So now our hero got two things.**

 **He got power and an aim.**

 **And that is how heroes are born.**

 **Please review, don't be afraid to PM me if you have suggestions.**


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